"It is important for the team, two points, but for me, too," said Drouin, who's pass through the crease set up Max Pacioretty's one-timer that tied it at 1 late in the first period.

Phillip Danault forced overtime by scoring a short-handed goal on a wraparound with 11:59 left.

The Sabres blew two one-goal leads in spoiling Phil Housley's debut as head coach and Jason Pominville's two-goal outing in his first game back with Buffalo since being reacquired in a trade with Minnesota in June.

Housley lamented the loss, while noting he saw positive signs of the up-tempo style he's introducing to Buffalo after spending the previous four seasons as an assistant coach in Nashville.

"We outshot the team, we out-chanced the team, we just didn't beat them on the scoreboard," said Housley, the Hall of Fame defenceman who broke into the NHL with Buffalo as an 18-year old in 1982. "We don't like the result obviously, but I think we can take a lot of things from this game as we move forward."

Buffalo took 45 shots, including 41 through three periods a year after the team topped 40 just four times.

Where Buffalo faltered was on the power play in converting just one of five opportunities. The Sabres managed one shot on goal during a two-man advantage spanning 78 seconds in the second period. And then they gave up the tying goal 42 seconds after Montreal's Andrew Shaw was penalized for interference.

Canadiens defenceman Shea Weber gained the Sabres zone and briefly lost control of the puck before dumping it behind Buffalo's net. Danault pounced on it and wrapped it in from the right side.

"We sort of took the foot off the gas there," Housley said.

Buffalo is coming off a tumultuous off-season in which general manager Tim Murray and coach Dan Bylsma were fired after the team missed the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. Jason Botterill took over as GM in May and a month later hired Housley.

Pominville opened the scoring with a power-play goal 8:30 into the first period and then converted Jack Eichel's pass through the middle to put Buffalo up 2-1 in the opening minute of the second period.

The former Sabres captain spent the four-plus seasons in Minnesota before being was acquired along with defenceman Marco Scandella.

NOTES: Pominville's last two-goal game in a Sabres' uniform came in a 4-3 shootout win over New Jersey on March 2, 2013, about a month before he was traded to Minnesota. ... Canadiens free-agent addition, D Karl Alzner, extended his consecutive games streak to 541 — the fifth-longest active streak, and one short of matching Brendan Morrison for 17th on NHL list. ...The Sabres elected not to choose a captain to start the season and instead named four assistant captains: Forwards Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo, and defenceman Zach Bogosian.